Sunday, 24 February 2013

What is the What?

Hi everyone. This blog post is about my current state in reading What is The What, by Dave Eggers.

I started reading this book in New Zealand towards the end of the winter break. I got to chapter two, and didn't like it so far. In the first two chapters, Valentino is being robbed in his home in Atlanta. And to be honest, those first two chapters gave me a very VERY bad impression of the book. For every other line, the 'F' word had to be squeezed into dialogue. I thought, 'What is going on with all this swearing? Oh my life, get a MOVE on!' So that was pretty boring and I didn't open the book up again until we were asked to in english class.

After a couple more chapters, things began to get more interesting. We were being transported back in time to Sudan, during the civil war. As I continued to read, I realized the book isn't that bad after all. I'm on page 306, and Valentino's experiences with the lost boys are beginning to come out more, and now interesting things are given a bigger role in the story. There was just this one chapter where Valentino/ Eggers starts talking about his adaptation to America. That was tedious.

The historic aspect of the book is really interesting, sad, and action-packed. The wording of the book isn't difficult at all, it's just the terrible things that happened to Sudan and its people along the way. I find the way Eggers plays with time, jumping back and forth in time, is a master skill. I like his style- its interesting, and his words flow smoothly through time transitions.